Sunday, 20 March 2016

Salt to the Sea
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publication Date: February 4th 2016
Publisher: Puffin~An (unsolicited) copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.

Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.

As
thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a
Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.

Yet not all promises can be kept.

Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray)
lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II.
An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.

Salt to
the Sea is the kind of book that sneaks up on you. Going in, I honestly don't
know what I was expecting, as it says in the back, the story, the ship, is not
a tragedy a lot of people know, I sure didn't. It may have taken me a while to
get into Salt to the Sea, but once I did, and the inevitable happened, it snuck
up on me how much I actually cared about the story, the characters, what it
represents and what happened.

I think
the reason why it took me so long to get into Salt to the Sea is because of the
perspectives, and how short the chapters are, we just start getting to know a
character before it switches again in between, Joana, a Lithuanian, Florian,
the Prussian, Emilia, the Polish, and Alfred, the German sociopath that
reinforces Hitler’s ideology. But what I did love about the chapters, was how
it held the suspense, we slowly get threads of their lives and secrets until
they're sewn together.

The
characters, eventually (minus the sociopath) get easier to connect to, to feel
for the characters and real lives that are lost to the sea in a bigger tragedy
than Titanic, and honestly, I didn't know how invested I was until the end.

Salt to
the Sea is a mixture of desperation and fear, a desperation and fear that
nobody should have to go through or witness.

Once
upon a time, Becca was the Break-Up Artist, tearing apart unhealthy
relationships at her school for just $100 via PayPal. But after a job
went really wrong, she went legit for love and now brings couples
together. Crushing on that supercute guy in Chemistry but too shy to say
hi? Becca has the right formula. Pining for that artsy girl who vowed
never to date a jock? Becca will ensure love conquers all. She's even
engineered a relationship of her own: the funny, sweet and unbelievably
cute Fred Teplitzky, the one guy who knows exactly what to say to make
our unflappable heroine&amp...well, flappable.

But before
she can pick out a graduation robe and enjoy her last months at Ashland
High, Becca has to deal with a new Break-Up Artist on the block. And
this master manipulator is dead set on one thing: revenge. Someone is
going around destroying all of the couples she's worked hard to unite.
Now Becca has to outwit and outscheme her new foe in a dirty
cat-and-mouse chase filled with hacked emails, video surveillance,
reputation ruining and a few candy hearts. Especially when she realizes
that the Revenge Artist's number one target is her and Fred.

Looks like there are no such things as clean breaks.

I really enjoyed The Break-Up artist
last year, it was a fun quick read full of personality and drama. Although my
main problem with it was the high schools weird obsession of having a boyfriend,
which was everything and you were obviously a poor suffering alien if you
weren't a couple. Thankfully, that wasn't an issue here, considering Becca is no
longer The Break-Up Artist, and more of a matchmaker, but it seemed like
everyone learned a lesson and weren't so obnoxious.

So, Becca's now a relationship
engineer, for the same price via PayPal, she now brings people together, and
with her also having a boyfriend now, she's a little less cynical (but she's
always going to be cynical). Enter...The Revenge Artist, who, well, wants
revenge by attacking the very couples Becca brings together, and her own
relationship with Fred.

Of course there is still drama.

I think, the thing about Becca is,
she's stubborn, and I mean stubborn to the point that it works very easily
against her, especially with The Revenge Artist, who coincidently, does very
little compared to what Becca did to break up couples. But she's realistic in
that way, we don't want or like it when people get the best of you, when
someone's playing your game, you want to win. Becca goes through a lot of
growth, and although she does cause most of the things that happens, it also
shows her what she really wants. She's uncertain about what she wants in her
future, and who she wants with her. It's something you can relate to.

I did figure out who The Revenge Artist
is, after all, keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.Overall, The Revenge Artist is a great
follow up to The Break-Up Artist, but if you weren't so fussed on The Break-Up Artist, the follow up might be more to your liking, because it also has a tooth achingly adorable epilogue, and for once I'm not being sarcastic.

Sunday, 6 March 2016

The Haunting
Author: Alex Bell
Publication Date: February 11th 2016
Publisher: Stripes Publishing~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Some curses grow stronger with time…People
say that all Cornish inns are haunted, but the Waterwitch’s history is
particularly chilling. Built from the salvaged timber of a cursed ship,
the guest house’s dark secrets go further back than anyone can remember.Emma
is permanently confined to a wheelchair after an accident at the
Waterwitch which took place when she was ten. Seven years later, she
decides to return to the place where the awful event occurred. But the
ancient inn still has its ghosts, and one particular spirit is more
vengeful than ever…A chilling new title in the Red Eye horror series from the author of Frozen Charlotte.

I loved Frozen Charlotte last year, creepy dolls +
sociopathic tendencies = my kind of book, so I was wondering how Alex Bell was
going to top it. Some things in Frozen Charlotte, (the writing, the pace)
stayed the same in The Haunting, whilst other components (the characters, the
creepy) were different.

So, did The Haunting top Frozen Charlotte?

Short answer: Yes.

You want the long answer anyway? Yay.

The Haunting, is creepy as hell, I described Frozen
Charlotte as psychologically disturbing, well, I take it back, because this was
so much more disturbing and scary and I had to turn the light on at one
point.

The characters are quirky and I felt more of a connection
with them. Emma, in a wheelchair and with help from her assistance dog, lives
a relatively normal life, she has her days, but she doesn't let it stop her
from doing what she wants. She's also feisty and points out the way people
react to people in a wheelchair, stereotyping. Jem and Shell are still reeling
from leaving their abusive father behind, have barely any money, Jem’s
protective of Shell, and Shell, is a little eccentric.

The Haunting, as I said is more disturbing and it messes
with your head because you're not quite sure what's real or not or if it's mass
hysteria. Since we have three perspectives, Emma's, Jem's and Shell's and a
haunted place, two nonbelievers and a believer (guess who that is?) it'll have
you believing one minute, and then the more you discover of their pasts, second
guessing yourself.

If you've read Frozen Charlotte, you'll remember the lack of
romance, which was refreshing, and it's the same in The Haunting, even though I
was hoping to have some romance in there, but it's still refreshing to have the
story be focused on the plot and the emphasis on friendship and family. If you
liked Frozen Charlotte, Alex Bell doesn't disappoint with The Haunting.